The Goal: Get Out of the House!

A mother needs an artillery battery for excursions out of the home and if anything is forgotten, a trip to Target is too long, way too long, to replace the pacifier you forgot at home and now need to soothe your screaming child so you better have it on hand with easy access.
The contents of a well stocked diaper bag include:
Desitin
3-4 diapers
Baby wipes
Bottle
Formula/milk
Baby food
Baby snack
2 toys
1 book
2 full changes of clothessocks
extra shoes
blanket
Tylenol
Baby Orajel
Teething tablets
Purell
Pacifiers
Bib
Kleenex
Baby sunscreen
Aquaphor
Embryolisse

Marc Jacobs makes a cute one that I may have to include in a giveaway soon.

In a 3 hour trip I will use most if not all of the above to entertain, comfort, feed and distract my child. Mind you, I only have one but am thoroughly exhausted at the end of the day, which is usually when I sit down to start writing. I don't know how my mother did it with 7 children. All the books, school bags, lunches, basket balls shoes etc. The list goes on and on. She had all of us children in every imaginable afterschool activity. From orchestra to sports and theater to French classes. She wanted her children educated and well rounded.
I'm a different kind of mother and find it difficult to simply get out of the house to meet a friend for coffee. I feel like I'm packing for a small army. And then I turn into a sherpa of sorts as I lug my child, my purse, the diaper bag and stroller to our chosen destination. By the time I arrive anywhere my brain is begging me for another coffee and I feel a slight post traumatic stress anxiety from traveling so much and having to constantly pack and unpack as a model.

Last week I was alone with Henry. Gary was out of town doing business in Nashville. And Henry began his first bout of painful teething. I had scheduled play-dates every day and had come up with numerous activities to keep us busy and surrounded by the helping hands of friends. Unfortunately Henry's teething had other plans and most of them were canceled and rescheduled one by one as he was just too uncomfortable to play and too fussy to be in public.
By sunday I was crying, literally. I spent the better part of Easter Sunday morning driving the car around and around the block because it was the only place that Henry was comfortable and could fall asleep. The day before I had brought him to his first egg hunt. He cried getting ready, cried the whole way there, was happy playing with a bucket of ice chips and then cried the whole way home. Here he is. Henry's first Easter:

Being the second oldest of 7 children, I've got some experience with teething. Out came the cold wash cloths, baby tylenol and teething toys. Nothing worked. Poor guy. The good news is last night I think his teeth finally broke through. We had 2 hours in the middle of the night of fussing and then he fell back asleep and woke up a different baby. Henry is happy again! Gary is back in town and I'm turning over the parenting reigns to him for a few days so I can recover and take a shower. Happy Easter everyone! As my dad wisely advised, this too shall pass and in the meantime, don't kill the baby.
Can I get an amen?